JEFF JACOBY knocks down a straw man and ignores facts. He asserts that peace begins with acceptance of Israel as “a permanent fact of life in the Middle East.” The Arabs know that. The Palestinians recognized Israel in 1988 and again in the Oslo Accords. The neighboring countries just reiterated their commitment to the Saudi peace initiative that is being offered to Israel, not to a nonexistent country.

Jacoby omits Gaza from his demographic calculations, but the Gazans are Palestinians — the same as Palestinians in Ramallah, Bethlehem, or East Jerusalem. Under international agreements, all of them should realize independence in a Palestinian state. All of them together will outnumber Jews. The real myth is that Gaza is somehow going away and is not part of the Palestinian future.

Another factor Jacoby avoids is that we should implement the two-state solution because it is the right thing to do in terms of equity, international law, and religious values.